Dozens of volunteers delivered food and gifts to more than 700 local senior citizens and families on Saturday as part of the Boys & Girls Clubs Holiday Basket Program.

The Violante and Mangold families, owners of Royal Oak’s Holiday Market, donated pallets of food, in addition to the non-perishable food items given by shoppers at the market’s Dec. 7 food drive, so each family could receive a turkey and enough food for two weeks. Needy senior citizens received canned hams plus food and gifts.

Several groups, such as the Royal Oak Restaurant Association and the Business Women’s Network, adopted families.

Advertisement

Packing and staging was done in a space donated by developer Dennis Griffin.

The majority of the funding that made the Basket Program possible came from the annual Jess Perreca Sr. Memorial Christmas Classic Golf Outing in September. The golf outing honors the late Jess Perreca Sr., a Daily Tribune circulation district manager who saved his vacation time every year to coordinate the Boys & Girls Clubs’ Holiday Basket Program.